Study of Virginias Parole Eligible Inmate Population

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Study of Virginias Parole- Eligible Inmate
Population
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Legislative Directive

• Item 48
• Judicial Department
• Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
  Language
• B. The Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
  shall review the status of all offenders housed
  in state facilities operated by the Virginia
  Department of Corrections who are subject to
  consideration for parole. The purpose of the
  review is to determine the numbers of such
  offenders who have already, or will within the
  next six years, serve an amount of time in
  prison, which would be equal to or more than the
  amount of time for which they would have been
  sentenced for the same offense, and under the
  same circumstances, under the current sentencing
  guidelines system. The review shall include
  consideration of the numbers and types of older
  offenders who may be eligible for geriatric
  release. The Department of Corrections and the
  Virginia Parole Board shall provide all necessary
  information and assistance in carrying out this
  review. This review shall be presented to the
  Secretary of Public Safety, the Chairmen of the
  Senate and House Courts of Justice Committees,
  the Chairman of the Virginia State Crime
  Commission, and the Chairmen of the Senate
  Finance and House Appropriations Committees by
  September 1, 2009.

Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
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State-Responsible Prison Inmates Classified as of
December 31, 2008
36,232 Classified Prison Inmates
Source Virginia Department of Corrections
(March 6, 2009) Note Figures are based on
classification of felony offenses.
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
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Parole-Eligible Inmates as of December 31, 2008
byYear Originally Received into Department of
Corrections
3,735 Parole-Eligible Inmates
Source Virginia Department of Corrections
(March 6, 2009) Note Figures are based on
classification of felony offenses.
Excludes offenders who also have no-parole
felonies. Date originally received
into DOC is the first date the inmate was
incarcerated for the crime(s) for
which he is currently serving time. This does
not include subsequent intakes, including the
date received for any parole
violations.
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
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Parole-Eligible Inmates as of December 31,
2008by Most Serious Offense (as Classified by
DOC)
3,735 Parole-Eligible Inmates
Source Virginia Department of Corrections
(March 6, 2009) Note Most serious offense as
classified by DOC may not be the same as the most
serious offense identified by the sentencing
guidelines. Excludes offenders who also have
no-parole felonies.
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
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Parole-Eligible Inmates as of December 31, 2008
by Age
3,735 Parole-Eligible Inmates
Source Virginia Department of Corrections
(March 6, 2009) Note Excludes offenders who
also have no-parole felonies.
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Study Methodology
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Data Sources

• Pre/Post-Sentencing Investigation (PSI) Reporting
  System
• Standardized and automated since 1985
• Staff selected all PSI records that could be
  associated with a parole-eligible inmates
  current term of incarceration
• Virginia Parole Board Database
• Contains PSI-like variables, including prior
  record information, victim characteristics, and
  circumstances of the crime
• Scanned images of offense and criminal history
  narratives provided by the Parole Board were used
  to supplement the automated data

Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
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Exclusion of Inmates

• Guidelines recommendations could not be
  calculated for some inmates
• Electronic records could not be located for a
  small proportion (202 inmates) of the original
  3,735 parole-eligible inmates
• Guidelines recommendations could not be
  calculated for 40 inmates because all the
  sentencing events associated with their current
  term of incarceration were not covered by the
  guidelines
• For 7 inmates, only data regarding probation or
  parole violations were available
• Automated data sources were missing information
  for 145 inmates, who were consequently removed
  from the analysis

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Scoring the Sentencing Guidelines

• Staff developed programming to electronically
  score the guidelines for the remaining 3,341
  parole-eligible inmates
• Guidelines recommendations were calculated for
  each sentencing event associated with an inmates
  current term of incarceration
• For the 950 inmates who were incarcerated for
  more than one sentencing event, the guidelines
  recommendations were summed across events to
  calculate the total sentence recommendation

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Study Limitations

• Automated data may not include all sentencing
  events that resulted in the offenders current
  term of incarceration
• Combination of guidelines and non-guidelines
  sentencing events
• The total sentence recommendation is only based
  on sentencing events covered by the guidelines
• Violations of probation and parole
• Parole violations are not incorporated into the
  guidelines score
• Probation violations are scored if they are
  sentenced at the same time as an offense covered
  by the guidelines
• Prior probation violations are scored as part of
  the offenders prior record
• If a probation violation is handled in a separate
  hearing after sentencing for the guidelines
  offense, it is not incorporated into the
  guidelines recommendation

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Findings
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Guidelines Most Serious Offense for Incarceration
Period
Certain drug offenses carry a higher statutory
maximum than attempted 1st degree murder, 2nd
degree murder, manslaughter, malicious wounding,
some burglaries, most attempts, etc. If a drug
offense had a higher statutory maximum than these
other offenses, it was selected as the primary
offense for the current incarceration period.
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
Note For offenders with multiple sentencing
events, the most serious offense for the current
incarceration period was selected using the
guidelines rules for selecting the primary
offense. These inmates remained in the study
because they had been sentenced in a separate
sentencing event for other offenses that are
covered by the guidelines.
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Parole-Eligible Inmates with Guidelines
Recommendations
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
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Guidelines Most Serious Offense for Incarceration
Period
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
The primary offenses for the sentencing events
covered by the guidelines included 2 burglaries,
a malicious wounding, credit card fraud, grand
larceny, and sale of a schedule I/II drug
Note Offenders whose most serious offense was a
non-guidelines offense remained in the study
because they had been sentenced in a separate
sentencing event for other offenses that are
covered by the guidelines.
Note Offenders whose most serious offense was a
non-guidelines offense remained in the study
because they had been sentenced in a separate
sentencing event for other offenses that are
covered by the guidelines.
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Guidelines Most Serious Offense for Incarceration
Period
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
3
3
1
1
1
1
10 inmates not yet eligible for parole
Note Offenders whose most serious offense was a
non-guidelines offense remained in the study
because they had been sentenced in a separate
sentencing event for other offenses that are
covered by the guidelines.
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Sentence Length by Guidelines Most Serious
Offense
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
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Probation and Parole Violations
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
Time Served Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
(706
inmates)
Time Served is Less than Guidelines
Recommendation
(2,635 inmates)
Note Violations include both probation and
parole violations.
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Probation and Parole Violations by Most Serious
Offense
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
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Percentage of Offenders with at Least One
Probation or Parole Violation by Most Serious
Offense
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
None of the cases with a non-guidelines or
weapons offense as the most serious offense for
the incarceration period fell below the
guidelines recommendation
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Offender Age, as of December 31, 2008
3,341 Parole-Eligible Inmates Included in Study
Time Served Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
(706
inmates)
Time Served is Less than Guidelines
Recommendation
(2,635 inmates)
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Larceny/Fraud Offenders Number of Offenses for
Incarceration Period
42 Parole-Eligible Inmates Convicted of Larceny
or Fraud as the Most Serious Offense
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Robbery Characteristics
564 Parole-Eligible Inmates Convicted of Robbery
as the Most Serious Offense
Time Served Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
(238
inmates)
Time Served is Less than Guidelines
Recommendation
(326 inmates)
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Median Amount of Time Served Beyond the High-End
Guidelines Recommendation by Offense
This inmate was sentenced for two instances of
felon in possession of a firearm. The offender
also has 1 prior probation violation and 1 parole
violation.
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
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Amount of Time Served Beyond the High-End
Guidelines Recommendation (as of 12/31/2008)
706 Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served
Exceeds Guidelines Recommendation
Sale of a Schedule I/II drug, conspiracy, 2
parole violations
2 counts of grand larceny from a person
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Parole-Eligible Inmates Whose Time Served Will
Exceed the Guidelines Recommendation by 12/31/2014
Note Inmates who are expected to reach their
mandatory parole date prior to exceeding the
guidelines high-end recommendation are excluded.
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Inmates Eligible for Geriatric Release
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Inmates Eligible for Geriatric Release as of
December 31, 2008
Parole system inmates include offenders who
have a combination of parole-eligible felonies
and no-parole felonies
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Inmates Eligible for Geriatric Release by Age and
Time Served
Median time served is the middle value, where
half of the values are higher and half are lower
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Projected Number of Geriatric-Eligible Inmates,
2009 and 2010
Projection is based on inmates confined as of
December 31, 2008 Note A portion of these
inmates may reach their mandatory parole release
date or the expiration of their sentence before
they reach the necessary age and time-served
thresholds to qualify for geriatric release.
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